Behind the Protests: The Strength and Heartache of Ukraine’s Madrid Community

(Ukrainian & Spanish flags in front of the embassy, Nov 2024)

Freshly arrived in Madrid for University, I scoured my new neighbourhood in which I will spend the following six months. If there is one joy in moving to a new town, it is to immerse oneself in it: rediscovering hidden streets, tapas restaurants, flamenco venues. After ten years, I once again could stand in the Iberian peninsula’s geographic center in Sol, reconnect with an old acquaintance of mine: the bronze statue of a bear and its strawberry tree, the city’s coat of arms. The puerta del Sol in Madrid truly is the epicenter of the Spanish capital, with its ray-like streets radiating the entire district. Barely two days after settling in, walking up along the Calle De Alcala from Sol, I spotted familiar colours from afar. Two ladies in their mid-50s were waving Ukrainian flags, static, standing behind a little urn to collect money, posted there ten hours a day, seven days per week. As I got closer, one of them quickly spotted the blue and yellow ribbon attached to my backpack that i got in Ukraine last summer, and briefly gave me a smile. This was the first time I met Olga. 

(Selfies in front of the embassy, Sept 24-Jan 25)

Originally from Lviv in western Ukraine, Olga fled with her family when the war began and was quickly welcomed into the EU, joining over six million compatriots who left their homeland [1]. Well, almost all of her family. Her son, in his mid-30s stayed, and is now fighting like many other men on the front lines. Olga told me that he was recently deployed in probably one of the hottest battlefields on earth: Pokrovsk. We have all seen the pictures of the city of Bakhmut [2], which was the most contested Ukrainian town in 2023, with some of the bloodiest assaults ever recorded. This is where the infamous mercenary group Wagner unleashed its most despicable tactics: reducing the town to rubble, later to send waves of convicted criminals to clear the smoking remains, at unimaginable human cost. Those images and videos from this town – which is no more – are engraved in every Ukrainian’s memory. Now imagine being a mother taking refuge in Spain, with her son a thousand kilometers away in the “new Bakhmut” [3], on the most brutal part of the front line, probably hidden in a cellar as the Russians simply erase the town from the map thanks to the sheer raw power of their artillery. And yet she is still there, befriending a complete stranger from France, welcoming me into the community as a relative would do, whilst his son is fighting for his life and country. Unfathomable is the strength of that woman.

A week later, I was standing there, across this double lane street, in front of this oh so familiar brutalist soviet building. All eyes fixated on the garage exit of the Russian embassy, a car finally came out. Red license plate? Yes! Immatriculation number 74? Yes! The few Ukrainians and myself who were there that evening walked up to the end of the pavement and started yelling: “Assassino, Assassino, Assassino”, “Russia, Fuera de Ucrania, Russia, Fuera De Ucrania”… The German sedan swiftly drove-by, and soon after the shouting muted. With my vocal chords still recovering from the intense previous 10 seconds, I could not help but remember that a week prior, I was a complete stranger to the Ukrainian community, and now I was like family to them, all thanks to that fateful encounter with Olga.

There is in front of the embassy a life-sized replica of mankind’s first satellite, Sputnik. I cannot see anything but the discrepancy between Russia’s past achievements – albeit under communism – and how much lower they have fallen since then. The forces of evil that have unanimously started the war in 2022 are more wicked and vile than the post-WW2 USSR could have ever been. Looking at Olga reminds me daily of that fact.  

She is nonetheless still holding onto the hope of reuniting with her son and country. Some others who I have met those months in front of the embassy have unfortunately not been granted this hope. One of the sweetest ladies I have talked to, who is by far the most active in the community – constantly doing sit-ins at the embassy, protesting on weekends, collecting money –  is one of the hundreds of thousands of less fortunate Ukrainians. Her Whatsapp picture is not a selfie of herself, with her short blond hair and signature Ray Ban pilot sunglasses, but a man in military uniform. A rather young man in his 20s, with a nose, chin and mouth eerily similar to hers. Under his shy but heart-warming smile, is written “28/09/22”. I dare not to ask her or anyone else about him as I dread the chilling answer.       

Amidst this gloom, it would be evident to picture those sit-ins as auster, quiet and emotionally painful. But it is quite the opposite. The moments we spend there on that pavement, under the rain or in the freezing cold Madrid nights are a time of togetherness. I have rarely laughed that much and been treated so well. At the embassy the Ukrainians would always bring hot coffee, snacks, play music and joke around at memes on Telegram channels. Our evenings together are punctuated by political talks, shouting, laughter (and sometimes inconceivably gruesome uncensored drone footage from the front lines). After nearly three years of this war, I can’t possibly comprehend how they are so upbeat, at least in public. That would give anyone a moral boost and a deeper perspective into their own lives, and a new meaning to the word “hardship”.   

Sources: 

[1] UNHCR. (n.d.). Ukraine Refugee Situation. UNHCR Operational Data Portal. Retrieved from https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine

[2] Santora, M. (2023, May 22). Russia Claims Control of Bakhmut as Ukraine Says the Fight Isn’t Over. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/22/world/europe/bakhmut-ukraine.html

[3] MSN News. (n.d.). Russia intensifies attacks near Pokrovsk, seeks to encircle Ukrainian forces. Retrieved from https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-intensifies-attacks-near-pokrovsk-seeks-to-encircle-ukrainian-forces/ar-AA1xX7Bb